WetShaving

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This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.

New subscribers welcome!

Please visit our wiki, which is always and forever a work in progress.

Our sister Mastodon instance is https://wetshaving.social.

Community Rules

Rule 1 - Behaviour and Etiquette

Be Respectful. Do not bully, flame, or harass others.
Malicious comments are not allowed but heated discussion and salty banter is okay.
Low effort replies and complaints about content will be removed.

Rule 2 - Content Guidelines

Mail Calls, Simple Questions, and SOTD posts belong in the recurring weekly threads.
Posts must have sufficient content to generate a meaningful discussion.
Images, links, or videos must include additional text that summarizes the topic.

Rule 3 - Reviews and Disclosure

Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
Use the [Review] in the title if you can provide comprehensive details with enough familiarity to answer follow-up questions.
Disclose how the product being reviewed was acquired (e.g., PIF, loan, or purchase). If the product was provided to you directly by the maker or vendor free of charge or at a discount, you must disclose this fact even if the item will later be returned to the maker or vendor.

Rule 4 - Advertising

Vendors are to keep marketing within the biweekly Deals/New Products threads.
Non-vendors may post topics about products if it will foster a compelling discussion.
Do not solicit donations or share fundraisers without mod approval.

Rule 5 - Inappropriate Content

All NSFW/L content must request mod approval and be flaired appropriately.
Non-shaving related NSFW/L content is not allowed.

Rule 10 - Moderator Discretion

The rules may not apply perfectly to every situation. The mods have final discretion.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

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$FriodomRiders, or Straight Razors Done Right: The Challenge to reach Serenity in Austerity Through Liberty from Oxidisability (wetshaving.social)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Are you a straight shaver? Do you hate rust? Do you like great razors? This is for you!

This is about leveraging the only meaningful innovation in straight razor manufacture in the last 75 years for a relaxed Austere August without worrying about your precious razor rusting while you enjoy your summer.

This is about Friodom! (from rust)

TL/DR:

Get yourself a Friodur, Inox, Eisgehärtet, Edelstahl (or any differently named stainless steel) straight razor.
Participate in AA with it.
Profit!

What do I need?

A stainless steel razor (If you don't have one and are tempted by this challenge, I strongly suggest getting a Friodur 5/8 or larger, they are all very good, and typically in can be found in great condition on eBay).

Can I combine $FriodomRiders with other challenges?

Yes! $FriodomRiders is compatible with $headless, $RawHoggin, $Honemeisterschaft and all the software challenges.

How do I participate?

Include the character string "$FriodomRiders" in your SOTD posts. (Yes, that's a Dollar sign $, not a hashtag #. If I never have to talk about hashtags in SOTD posts again, it's still too soon 😅)

What do I get?

The honour of displaying the 🗽FriodomRider🏇 flair.

Backstory

The heyday of straight razors is the late 19th century, and a 130 year old full hollow ground Böker looks exactly like one made this year. Even modern razors who try new design languages are typically made exactly like a century ago: A blank of carbon steel is forged, tempered, ground, and scaled.

After an initial learning curve, a good straight razor delivers fantastic shaves for a lifetime if properly cared for, and here lies the rub. Most straight razors rust. You need to keep them dry and oiled between uses, or they will turn into expensive red powder.

We're not really used to things rusting any more in our lives. Our cutlery, pots, pans, and most kitchen knives are made from stainless steel, so why aren't razors?

The first stainless steel knives appeared in 1914, and they weren't a success, but known as "the knife that would not cut". The ice-hardening process for quality blades in stainless steel was only invented in 1939 and patented by Zwilling in 1951 under the name Friodur (pseudo latin for cold-hard). This means that good stainless steel came about only after the straight razors fell out of fashion.

Zwilling (Friodur), Weltmeister (eisgehärtet), Thiers Issard and Dovo (Inox), Ralf Aust (Edelstahl) all produced or still produce stainless steel razors.

I'm convinced that good stainless steal razors are on par with good carbon steel razors, and they have an undeservedly bad reputation. Join me in shining light on the best straight razors ever made.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I would, but I don't believe in Austere August.

It's really "Austere" August at this point 😅

I also can't travel with a straight razor which makes it impossible to succeed 😭

😭